"Will be travelling to meet my grandmother and family for a few days. Looking forward to spending some time with them," Gandhi said on Twitter.

Rahul Gandhi, whose maternal grandmother Paola Maino lives in Italy, did not mention how many days he will remain out of the country. He will celebrate his 47th birthday on June 19.

The Congress leader's latest foreign visit comes amid hectic politics over the July 17 presidential election and other developments like the farmers unrest and protests in various states across the country.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said: "Rahul Gandhi is travelling abroad to meet his 93-year-old grandmother and family. To take care of the well-being of elders is part of our culture."

He said Rahul Gandhi will continue to lead and guide the ongoing farmers' agitation and every Congressman is committed to fight for the farmers rights.

This is not the first time that Gandhi had announced his plans to go abroad on Twitter. He did the same when he earlier visited London in December 2016.

Moreover, it is not the first time Gandhi will go abroad when presidential election and farmers unrest looms large over the country, and six farmers have been killed in police firing on June 6 in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh.

He went abroad ahead of New Year celebrations in December 2016, when the country was in economic and political turmoil owing to the government's November 8 decision to demonetise currency notes and infighting in the Samajwadi Party ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

He drew criticism from political opponents when he went abroad in 2016-end, leading to his absence from Parliament in the first few days of the Budget session.

He again drew flak when he attended the Aspen conference in September 2015 amid assembly election campaign in Bihar.

--IANS

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